Elliott Academy of Excellence

Planning the Garden

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:36:00 +0000

I have been busy trying to plan my garden for this summer. There is nothing like a little spring weather for some inspiration!

I really have to order my seeds this weekend so that I can be sure I have them in time to start my indoor plants. I haven't had much success with seed starting yet, but I keep trying.

I thought I would share a few gardening sites that I like:

Vegetable Gardening Online
Econobusters shared this link in a recent newsletter. This website is full of information for beginning gardeners, including free garden plans using the square foot gardening method, garden planning worksheets to download, plant profiles, various types of gardens, and a free online garden planner. The online garden planner allows you to choose a garden size and drag vegetables and fruits to various squares. It even shows you how many vegetables to plant per square! You can design a garden using tips throughout the website, name it, and print it out.

Little House in the Suburbs
You will find the feed to this blog in my sidebar because it is one of my favorites. They have quite a few gardening tips along with a lot of free gardening printables (scroll down and look through old posts for the garden printables or just scroll through the garden category), including several square foot garden plans with instructions. The most recent printable is a free Spring Planner (instructions here).

Organic Gardening
I don't subscribe to the magazine, but I do receive Organic Gardening's e-newsletter. Their website many helpful articles.

I also have an old gardening post that has some other helpful gardening links.

Black History Month Resources

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This is an edited repost from 2008.

February is Black History Month in the United States. This is a great time for educators to focus in on an aspect of our history that does not always receive thorough treatment in textbooks. I have posted many helpful links for in-depth study of African-American history, as well as an inexpensive homeschool resource that our family really enjoys.

I haven't completely gone through all of these sites, so please use discretion and do some previewing!

These two sites contain many links for studying African American history:

Awesome Stories is a favorite resource in our homeschool. "Enjoy an interactive learning experience as you see thousands of hand-selected and relevant links to pictures, artifacts, manuscripts, documents and other primary sources, IN CONTEXT, within each story." This is a huge site with tons and tons of information. If you haven't seen it, it is well worth looking at. I signed up for the free academic membership a few years ago, which gives you access to narrated stories, lesson plans, text documents, etc. Here are some of the Awesome Stories links related to Black History Month:

Amazing Grace: The Story Behind the Movie
Slave Voices
Black History Month (A-I) and Black History Month (J-Z) (some of these will link to chapters in the above topic - they are "focused topic" lists)
Slavery and the Slave Trade (A-F) and Slavery and the Slave Trade (G-Z) (focused topic lists)
Civil Rights (a focused topic list)
American Civil War (A-I) and American Civil War (J-Z) (focused topic lists)

For Older Students:

PBS: Africans in America: This is a very informative PBS website. I was amazed at the amount of information here! There is also a PBS video series by this name that I was able to obtain from my local library. It is also available at Netflix.
PBS: African American World: Your guide to African American history and culture
Black History at History.com
The Underground Railroad (interactive National Geographic site)
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African: If you saw the movie "Amazing Grace," this is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, one of the people featured in the movie.

For Younger Students:

Educational Bookmarks for Black History Month
Culture and Change: Black History in America (Scholastic site)

About Africa:

PBS: Wonders of the African World
PBS: Africa for Kids
PBS: Kids Africa
Xpeditions Printable Map of Africa (I had to include at least one map! You can customize this one for printing.)

Although this post highlights free resources for Black History Month, I would be remiss if I didn't mention fellow homeschooler Belinda Bullard's Christ-centered, literature-based history curriculum, written from an African American perspective. Her products and samples are available at A Blessed Heritage Educational Resources.

We supplemented our Tapestry of Grace Year 2 and Year 3 curriculum with This Far by Faith, Volume 1. We are currently using This Far by Faith, Volume 2 as our main history curriculum, supplemented by Tapestry of Grace Year 3 and Year 4 selections and some extra work for our high school students. I highly recommend this inexpensive resource if you are interested in adding an African American focus to your history studies.

Belinda has also written a unit study called A Historical Walk through the Harlem Renaissance that we will be purchasing once we get to the 1920s. I am really excited about it!

Enjoy!

Experiments in Soap Making

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:19:00 +0000

It seems that I am always experimenting with something or other. I am always trying to learn how to make things, be it food, cleaning products, hygiene products, or more obscure (weird?) items. Last summer, I decided to try my hand at soap making. I made plain, unscented soap for bathing and some lard-based soap (scented) to use in my homemade laundry soap. I was pretty pleased with those batches. The bars don't look great, but they work! :-)

Since then, I have wanted to try to make my own dish soap and shampoo. We used the unscented bath soap bar to wash our hair for a few days when we ran out of shampoo. That actually worked really well. I had to use apple cider vinegar as a kind of conditioner for my hair with this method. I put it in a spray bottle, sprayed it on my hair in the shower, and rinsed it out.

Since we are used to liquid shampoos with scents, I tried to convert my laundry soap bars into liquid for that purpose without much success. The unscented bath bars suds up more, and we really do like the suds for our hair even if they aren't necessary. I also tried the liquid for dishes, but I didn't really like it.

I finally ordered potassium hydroxide to make liquid soap, my latest experiment. I am quite a ways into my first batch as I type. Liquid soap is definitely more time-consuming than bar soap! I'll let you know how it turns out when I'm finished.

In the meantime, I thought I would share some soap-making links in case anyone is interested. These are all cold process soap links (cold process soap has to cure for several weeks to neutralize the lye before it is ready for use). I will add liquid soap making links to my liquid soap post.

Homestead Crafts at The Family Homestead (scroll down for the soap making info): I was first inspired to try making soap by reading about it at The Family Homestead. I used Crystal's Simple Soap Recipe for the bath soap and Crystal's Lard Soap for Laundry (same page, last recipe). I added about 1 ounce of lavender essential oil to the laundry soap.
down to earth has a really helpful soap tutorial with pictures.
Miller's Homemade Soap Pages is *the* place to go for cold-pressed soap making information! I used Kathy Miller's Soap Classic recipe for my latest batch of cold-pressed soap with orange blossom and lavender essential oils (the kids begged me for a scented bath soap). That will be curing for a few weeks, so we haven't used it yet. It smells great, though.
Grandpappy's Homemade Soap Recipe: This is how they made soap in the "old days." The recipe includes instructions for making your own lye and rendering your own animal fat.

Menu Plan Monday - October 19

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I'm only posting dinners this week. If you would like to see our breakfasts, lunches and cooking notes, you can look on my menu plan calendar.

Monday

Ground Beef & Cabbage over brown rice, steamed green beans

Tuesday

Potato Sausage Chowder, salad

Wednesday

Chicken Enchiladas, some kind of veggie

Thursday

Salmon Patties, baked fries, steamed broccoli (didn't make last week because I didn't have salmon!)

Friday

spaghetti with meat sauce, salad

Saturday

Chicken Pot Pie, probably an additional veggie on the side

Sunday

Beef Stroganoff, salad

To see many more menu plans, go to this week's Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

White and Green Chili

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:17:00 +0000

I was going to make salmon melts today, but I don't have any salmon! So much for efficient menu planning!

Since Katie at Kitchen Stewardship is holding an October Fest Carnival of Super Foods, I decided to try to throw together something quick, tasty, and nutritious for tonight's dinner. This is an even more nutrition-packed twist on your basic White Chili, and I think it is pretty delicious. It was a really quick meal for me because I already had cooked chicken and homemade chicken broth in the freezer, and I had just cooked a huge batch of white beans to replenish my freezer stash.

I am entering this recipe in the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods: SUPER FOODS Fest.

White and Green Chili

Servings: about 8

Ingredients:

1 TB coconut oil, palm fruit oil, or butter
1-2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 to 1 small jalapeno, finely chopped
3-4 cups cooked, cubed turkey or chicken (or about 1 lb ground turkey, browned)
3-4 cups cooked white beans
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp white pepper (you can use black)
3-4 cups homemade chicken broth
1-2 medium tomatoes, chopped (you can substitute canned)
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups Swiss chard, kale or spinach (or more - I just keep adding it until it looks "right")

Directions:

1. Heat oil on medium and add onions, garlic, and jalapeno. Sauté until onion is translucent.
2. Add meat, beans, and spices, and cook until fragrant.
3. Add chicken broth and tomatoes and simmer until heated through, then salt to taste.
4. Add Swiss chard (or dark green of your choice) and cook until wilted.
5. Serve with optional plain yogurt, shredded cheese, and mashed avocado.

Super Foods: 6-7 (6 if you use chicken, 7 if you use turkey)
Honorable Mentions: 1-2 (2 if you serve with avocado)

This is a pretty forgiving recipe: If you don't have some of the vegetables, you can easily leave them out and still have a yummy soup. You could also add other vegetables.

Menu Plan Monday - October 12

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:58:00 +0000

I'm only posting dinners this week. If you would like to see our breakfasts, lunches and cooking notes, you can look on my menu plan calendar.

Monday

Chicken Pot Pie

Tuesday

Katie's Simple Cabbage Soup

Wednesday

Beefy Enchilada Bake, salad

Thursday

Salmon Patties, baked fries, steamed broccoli

Friday

Pizza Pasta Casserole, salad

Saturday

Black Bean Chili, cornbread or brown rice, steamed green beans

Sunday

TBD

To see many more menu plans, go to this week's Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan Monday - October 5

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:54:00 +0000

Monday

Breakfast: toast w/peanut butter, hard-boiled eggs
Lunch: leftover soup
Dinner: out for our anniversary

Tuesday

Breakfast: oatmeal
Lunch: sandwiches or leftovers
Dinner: Garam Masala Red Lentil Soup

Wednesday

Breakfast: blender batter pancakes, apple slices
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: baked tilapia with veggies

Thursday

Breakfast: kefir smoothies, muffins
Lunch: sandwiches
Dinner: chicken pot pie

Friday

Breakfast: cooked millet
Lunch: leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner: red beans & rice

Saturday

Breakfast: pancakes, eggs
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Mother & Daughter Tea Party

Sunday

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs
Lunch/Dinner: something on the barbecue

My menu plan calendar is available here if you are interested in seeing it. I keep that current each day when meals change (as they often do). It also includes daily cooking notes. I have it set up to send me an agenda via e-mail every day, which is very helpful.

For more menu plans, go to orgjunkie.com.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:37:00 +0000

Rob and I are celebrating 18 years of marriage today! As my son says, our marriage has officially reached adulthood. :-)

Happy Anniversary, Rob! I love you!

Red Beans and Rice

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:54:00 +0000

This recipe calls for precooked and frozen items. Please see the notes below for alternate ways to prepare this recipe as well as some informational/recipe links.

Red Beans & Rice
Servings: at least 6

Ingredients:

1 TB palm fruit oil, coconut oil or olive oil (the first 2 options are better, IMO)
1 onion, chopped ($0.15)
1 cup celery, diced ($0.33 to $0.83)
1/2 cup green peppers, diced ($0.50? - depends on season)
2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.04)
1 lb homemade turkey sausage, breakfast sausage or smoked sausage (about $2 for the homemade turkey sausage)
1 t oregano
1 t thyme
1/2 t basil
1/2 t black pepper
1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, optional
2 cups homemade chicken stock (about $0.10?)
2 bay leaves
2 cups cooked red beans ($0.34 to 0.66)
2 cups cooked brown rice ($0.47 to 0.85)

(cost of spices: $0.25?)

1. Heat oil in a large skillet or pot while you chop your onion and celery.

2. Add onion and celery and saute on medium heat until fragrant.

3. Add garlic and saute for a few seconds, then add sausage IF using breakfast sausage (if you are using smoked sausage you will add it later). Break up sausage while it cooks.

4. When sausage is cooked through, add oregano, thyme, basil and black pepper and mix in.

5. Add chicken broth, bay leaves, red beans and rice (and sausage if using smoked sausage). Stir, bring to a boil, turn heat down to medium or medium-low and cook until the chicken broth is evaporated (you will have to stir it so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan).

6. Serve and enjoy! A green salad or raw vegetables are great sides for this dish.

Approximate Cost: $4.18 to $5.38 for at least 6 servings, depending on where you live and the types of vegetables, beans, rice, and meat used; the higher price is for organic beans, rice and veggies in my area.

Options

Cook your rice separately (preferably in broth) and serve the beans over the rice - I prefer to make this a one-skillet meal.
Skip the chicken broth if you are using cooked beans and rice. You won't want to use the bay leaf if you do this. The chicken broth does add nutrients and flavor!
Skip the sausage and use vegetable broth to make this a vegetarian meal. The sausage adds a ton of flavor, though. You may want to up the spices to taste if you do this.
Cut the amount of meat in half to reduce the cost of this meal by $1.
Partially cook your rice in 3/4 the recommended amount of broth or water and add it partially cooked. It will absorb most of the chicken stock.
Substitute 1-2 cans of red beans for cooked dried beans. This will increase the cost.

Don't have cooked beans and rice?

Cooking Beans
The day before, pick through and rinse 1 pound of red beans. Put beans in your cooking pot (or you can use a glass bowl if you prefer), fill pot with water, covering beans with at least 2 inches of water. Add 2-4 TB of whey, lemon juice or vinegar. Soak overnight. In the morning, drain your soaking water (supposed to help with digestibility of beans). Cover your beans with at least 2 inches of water again, add 2-3 tsp of sea salt, bring to a boil, turn heat down to simmer and cook for 1-2 hours, until beans are soft. Drain beans, use 2 cups for the red beans & rice, cool, and freeze the rest in 2-cup (or preferred amount) portions.

If you don't mind freezing your beans and rice together, then add 3 cups of rice to the beans at the beginning of the soaking process and follow the rest of the directions, but freeze in 4-cup portions.

Cooking Brown Rice
Soaking is optional, but I soak 2 cups of brown rice with 2 1/4 cups of water with 1 TB of whey, lemon juice, or vinegar in the morning in the same pot I will cook the rice in. When it is time to cook, I add 2 1/4 cups of chicken broth or water and 1 tsp of salt; stir, bring to a boil, turn heat to low, and cook covered for about 45 minutes. You can use 1 cup of rice and 2 1/4 cups of liquid for this recipe, but why not make extra and freeze the extra? You can cook 3 cups of brown in 6 3/4 cups of liquid if you want about 4 extra cups to freeze.

From the Freezer

I cook 1 to 2 pounds of beans at a time when I need them and freeze leftovers in 2-cup portions. I also cook extra brown rice when I am using brown rice for a recipe and freeze that in 2-cup portions. Look for directions at the bottom of the page for cooking the beans and/or rice.

I also freeze onions, green peppers, and celery ahead of time. Onions and green peppers do not have to be blanched before freezing. I have also read that blanching celery is not necessary as long as you are going to use it within about 3 months, but I cannot find the source. Download the University of Georgia's Freezing Vegetables guide (pdf) for a lot of information on freezing vegetables.

I buy a lot of ground turkey at one time, make it into homemade turkey sausage, and freeze it in 1-pound portions. You can also use breakfast sausage, smoked sausage or kielbasa for this recipe.

I make 4 to 8 quarts of homemade chicken stock (scroll down the linked page for recipe) at one time. I freeze this in various sized containers (ice cubes, 1-cup, 2-cup, and 4-cup sizes).

This recipe has been entered in the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods: Beans and Legumes Recipes, hosted by Kitchen Stewardship.

Freezing Tomatoes

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:23:00 +0000

We have had a fairy cool summer in Michigan this year, and the garden definitely reflected the temperatures. I had planned to can my tomatoes, but I really haven't been able to harvest enough at one time. I decided that I would freeze them. It is so easy! The National Center for Home Food Preservation has tons of information on preserving foods, including freezing. The section on freezing tomatoes is here. However, I don't like to remove the skins from my tomatoes because of the nutritional benefits of retaining the skins. I also decided it would save me time and grind the skins better if I used a blender.

Here are the choices for freezing your tomatoes with the skins intact:

just stick them in a container and freeze (yes, you can do this!)
quarter them, put them in a container, and freeze
blend them, put them in a container, and freeze
quarter or eighth them, then cook & cool them, put them in a container, and freeze
blend, cook, cool, put in a container, and freeze (my choice)

If you want to remove the skins, you can put the tomatoes in already boiling water for 30 seconds, cool them, and slide the skins off; or you can cook the tomatoes first and push the cooked tomatoes through a sieve or use a food mill after cooking. Pushing the tomatoes through a sieve after cooking will also remove the seeds.

Here is what you need for my method:

a blender or food processor (a stick blender would work, but I think a regular blender is better at grinding the skins)
a knife
a large pot (unless you want to freeze them uncooked)
freezer containers or bags
tomatoes

Pick the tomatoes (or buy them at great deals when they are in season). Aren't they pretty?

Wash, core, and quarter or halve the tomatoes. If you have a powerful blender, then you can probably skip the quartering or halving. Note: I wash all of my tomatoes and put the first couple in the blender while I core the rest of them. I have to start with a couple of quarters, but as the blender gets full I can halve them and sometimes even leave them whole.

Blend the tomatoes thoroughly; this is especially important if you are retaining the skins. I add my blended tomatoes to the pot as I go and keep blending in batches until they're done. If you are not going to cook your tomatoes, then you can pour them directly into freezer containers at this point. Don't forget to leave headspace in your containers!

Add the blended tomatoes to your pot, heat them up on medium for about 10-15 minutes and then turn them to low or medium-low until they are cooked down to a tomato sauce consistency. This takes a while depending on the temperature you choose. You really don't have to cook them at all, but I like to cook mine down because I don't have a ton of freezer space.

This is what it looked like after I cooked it down:

I cooked it a little longer than usual and ended up with something between tomato sauce and tomato paste. That works well for me, though, because I have tons of chicken broth and produce in my freezer right now and this will take up a bit less space. This batch of tomatoes gave me 2 3/4 quarts of thick sauce.

It took me under 20 minutes to prep the tomatoes from picking them to clean-up. I cooked them on low for a couple of hours, let the pan cool while we ate dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, then put the whole pot in the refrigerator to cool the rest of the way. I transferred the tomato sauce to freezer containers the next morning, making sure I left enough headspace.

Interested in saving some of your tomato seeds before preserving? Go here for directions.

Now I want to work on a lacto-fermented tomato-vegetable drink. Has anyone done this before?

Menu Plan Monday - September 27

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I have been freezing a lot of produce and homemade chicken broth and I'm out of freezer space, so I am doing a lot of cooking out of the freezer this week!

Monday

Breakfast: baked oatmeal, apple slices
Lunch: sandwiches, carrot sticks
Dinner: Chicken Stir Fry
* from the freezer: cooked chicken, cooked brown rice, mixed vegetables

Tuesday

Breakfast: toast with peanut butter, orange slices
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Chick Pea Burgers & Tahini Sauce, crudite
* from the freezer: cooked chick peas

Wednesday

Breakfast: pancakes, apple slices
Lunch: pizza toasts (toast ww bread, put pizza sauce or fresh sliced tomato with Italian seasoning and mozzarella cheese on top; broil until cheese is melted)
Dinner: Beefy Enchilada Bake, steamed green beans
* from the freezer: ground beef, tomato sauce, green beans

Thursday

Breakfast: kefir smoothies, muffins
Lunch: sandwiches, carrot sticks
Dinner: Potato Sausage Chowder, salad
* from the freezer: sausage, corn, chicken broth (instead of water - I change this recipe a bit)

Friday

Breakfast: toast with peanut butter, apple slices
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Pasta with Creme Fraiche & Salmon, steamed broccoli
* from the freezer: chicken broth, broccoli

Saturday

Brunch: Applesauce Bread, scrambled eggs
Dinner: Crockpot Shepherd's Pie, salad
* from the freezer: ground turkey (I'm cooking up a few pounds of it and freezing extras) and mixed vegetables

Sunday

We usually eat a late lunch/early dinner after church and graze if we're hungry later. :-)

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs, fruit
Lunch/Dinner: Crockpot Chicken & Quinoa Stew
* from the freezer: cooked chicken & chicken broth

My menu plan calendar is available here if you are interested in seeing it. I keep that current each day when meals change (as they often do). It also includes daily cooking notes. I have it set up to send me an agenda via e-mail every day, which is very helpful.

For more menu plans, go to orgjunkie.com.

Cultures for Health Kitchen Stewardship Giveaway

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:03:00 +0000

Kitchen Stewardship is having a giveaway for your choice of one of these cultures at Cultures for Health: yogurt, buttermilk, sourdough, water kefir, or kombucha.

Go to the giveaway post at Kitchen Stewardship to find out how to enter. This is a great opportunity if you are at interested in making your own cultured or fermented products. I make or have tried making yogurt, buttermilk, sourdough (my own starter), water kefir (with converted milk kefir grains), and kombucha (years ago).

If you eat yogurt, making your own is the way to go, and it is not as hard as it sounds. You can do this with store bought yogurt, but it would be great to win some yogurt cultures.

One more thing: If you haven't been to Kitchen Stewardship, there is a ton of information there! Katie does a lot of reading and researching and shares her findings in an easy-to-understand format. Check it out, but be sure to bookmark the blog so you can go back - there is way too much information to devour in a short period!

Menu Plan Monday - September 14

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:10:00 +0000

Monday

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs, orange slices
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, sauerkraut
Dinner: Fast & Furious Chicken & Rice, salad

Tuesday

Breakfast: soaked oatmeal with banana slices
Lunch: PB & J, celery sticks or leftovers
Dinner: Potato & Corn Chowder

Wednesday

Breakfast: pancakes, apple slices
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Beef Enchiladas (the linked recipe is for chicken, but I'm using beef), corn

Thursday

Breakfast: kefir smoothies, muffins
Lunch: sandwiches, carrot sticks
Dinner: Lentils & Rice Casserole, salad

Friday

Breakfast: toast with peanut butter, apple slices
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Taco Soup

Saturday

Brunch: Applesauce Bread, scrambled eggs
Dinner: Mole's Favourite Deeper 'n' Ever Turnip 'n' Tater Pie, salad

Sunday

We usually eat a late lunch/early dinner after church and graze if we're hungry later. :-)

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs, fruit
Lunch/Dinner: Roast Pork Loin with Garlic & Rosemary, roast potatoes, salad

My menu plan calendar is available here if you are interested in seeing it. I keep that current each day when meals change (as they often do). It also includes daily cooking notes. I have it set up to send me an agenda via e-mail every day, which is very helpful.

For more menu plans, go to orgjunkie.com.

Free "God's Word" Translation Audio New Testament

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:42:00 +0000

Christianaudio.com is offering the Baker Books: GOD'S WORD Heard! New Testament (audio book, MP3, CD) for free through the month of September.

Don't expect any bells and whistles. The audio is definitely computerized-sounding, but the translation is easy to understand. It would be great for a teenager who is on the go a lot.

You can read about this translation here, where you may also download the entire Bible as separate pdf files.

Enjoy!

Tons of Free Math Videos

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:28:00 +0000

I believe someone posted a link to this website on the LivingMath! yahoo group a while back. I took a look at Khan Academy and was amazed at all of the math help available there.

Salman Khan, the founder of the website, has made YouTube videos for many math topics, from basic addition to calculus. These are basic chalk on blackboard style lectures, but the concepts are clearly explained and follow ordered lessons that are labeled by topic.

These videos would make a great supplement to a math program and might help students understand concepts they are struggling with. You might be able to use these as a basis for a custom-tailored math program along with other resources and practice problems. However, I am not a math expert. If anyone uses the videos this way, I would be interested to know how it works for you.

There are also SAT Prep videos that offer explanations of the problems in the practice tests of "The Official SAT Study Guide!" You will need the book. The Khan Academy SAT Prep page gives suggestions for using the book and videos.

Enjoy!

Summer Reading Programs and Contests

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:19:00 +0000

I like to give my children the opportunity to enter summer reading programs and contests. They all read quite a bit, but it's nice to have a little incentive sometimes. It's a bit late, but here are a few programs that I found this year (As always, check out the sites first to see if you are comfortable with having your children use them.):

Scholastic Summer Challenge - Kids sign up, take a quiz to get sorted into teams, log minutes read and read for a cause, Save the Children. At the end of the year, the winning reading team gets to choose which Save the Children U.S. program will receive a donation.

Summer Reading Splash - This reading program is hosted by HomeschoolBlogger and includes Splish's Blog, where children may share their reading lists, enter weekly contests and interact with others. Download the reading log for younger students here and for older students here.

Barnes & Noble - Children in grades 1-6 download a reading journal to keep track of the books they read and record their favorite parts. Return the completed form (8 books) to a local Barnes & Noble for a free book (books are pre-selected by age and based on local availability).

Don't forget to check your library! All of the libraries around us have summer reading programs with prizes.

Tornado Video

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:37:00 +0000

We studied tornadoes yesterday, and today I saw that Kris at At Home Science posted a video that shows inside the top of a tornado! I love it when that happens!

The team that recorded the video is from Vortex 2, a field research program studying tornadoes.

Here is the video:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Amazing, isn't it?

Free Writing Webinars

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:52:00 +0000

Tapestry of Grace is offering a free 2-hour mini-seminar on teaching your children to write by Marcia Somerville.

I own her Writing Workshop CDs, and I found these workshops to be extremely helpful! Marcia has a baby-step way of explaining how to teach your children to write that makes you feel like you are never behind.
It looks like this webinar is the same as the Writing Workshop that I own, but it is free! You do have to register, and "seating" is limited.

Here are the links to read a summary of each session and register:

Writing Workshop I: June 15, 3:00-4:00 pm (EDT)

Session 1 Registration and Workshop Summary

Session 1 Handout (pdf)

Writing Workshop II: June 15, 8:00-9:00 pm (EDT)

Session 2 Registration and Workshop Summary

Session 2 Handout (pdf)

Click here and go to the "Workshops" tab to keep up on all of the current webinars offered by Tapestry of Grace. You will find several virtual conference workshops available:

"Teaching with Tapestry of Grace"
"Introduction to Tapestry of Grace DE (Digital Edition)"
"Writing Workshop I"
"Writing Workshop II" (free download available - Windows Media Player needed)
"The Nearness of God is my Good" (free download available - Windows Media Player needed)
"Teaching Devotional Techniques to our Kids: a Toolbox Approach"

There are several handouts available for the various workshops:
Materials Download Page

These virtual conferences will be going on throughout the summer, so be sure to check back at this link to stay updated!

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday - May 4

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:49:00 +0000

I put my menu plan on Google Calendar with daily cooking notes and links to recipes. I have that set up to e-mail me an agenda every day. I also keep it current each day if I change meals. My menu planning calendar is available here if you are interested in seeing it.

Monday

Breakfast: oatmeal with homemade applesauce
Lunch: leftover chili on homemade ww tortillas
Dinner: Crockpot Chicken and Quinoa

Tuesday

Breakfast: green smoothies
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Curried Sprouted Lentils with a Ginger & Garlic Cilantro Sauce (this will be moved to Wednesday if the lentils & wheat aren't sprouted yet)

Wednesday

Breakfast: cooked millet
Lunch: salmon patties, celery sticks
Dinner: Garlicky White Bean Soup with Dark Greens

Thursday

Breakfast: green smoothies
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Crockpot Taco Soup (scroll down to "Thursday" for recipe)

Friday

Breakfast: kasha (I am going to try soaking and drying the buckwheat before toasting this time)
Lunch: leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce, salad

Saturday

Breakfast: eggs, toast, fruit
Lunch: leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner: not sure yet :-)

Sunday

We usually eat a late lunch/early dinner after church and graze if we're hungry later. :-)

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs
Lunch/Dinner: grilled spareribs, baked potatoes, salad

For more menu plans, go to orgjunkie.com.

Menu Plan Monday - April 27

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:14:00 +0000

The potato sausage chowder that I made last week fed us for several meals! It was yummy, but I think I'll cut the recipe in half next time. :-)

I put my menu plan on Google Calendar with daily cooking notes and links to recipes. I have that set up to e-mail me an agenda every day. I also keep it current each day if I change meals. My menu planning calendar is available here if you are interested in seeing it.

Monday

Breakfast: green yogurt smoothies, toast
Lunch: black bean chili (from freezer), carrot sticks
Dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce, salad

Tuesday

Breakfast: oatmeal, apple slices
Lunch: probably sandwiches
Dinner: garam masala red lentil soup

Wednesday

Breakfast: green smoothies, toast
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, homemade tomato soup (this soup is wonderful!)
Dinner: beef stroganoff, green beans

Thursday

Breakfast: cooked millet, orange slices
Lunch: black bean chili (from freezer)
Dinner: grilled salmon, green beans, scalloped potatoes & carrots

Friday

Breakfast: blender batter pancakes, eggs, fruit
Lunch: leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner: chicken stir fry with brown rice & lots of veggies

Saturday

It's soccer season, so we can't do the Brunch/Dinner thing for a while. :-)

Breakfast: green smoothies, eggs
Lunch: leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner: taco potatoes, salad or cooked veggie

Sunday

We usually eat a late lunch/early dinner after church and graze if we're hungry later. :-)

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs
Lunch/Dinner: chili, blender batter cornbread, salad

For more menu plans, go to orgjunkie.com.

Menu Plan Monday - April 20

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:38:00 +0000

I really did not menu plan at all last week, and it definitely messed up our budget. This week's meals will come from foods already in our pantry, except some dairy and fresh produce. I am hoping to do a bit of stockpiling this week.

I put my menu plan on Google Calendar with daily cooking notes and links to recipes. I have that set up to e-mail me an agenda every day. I also keep it current each day if I change meals. My menu planning calendar is available here if you are interested in seeing it.

Monday

Breakfast: oatmeal, apple slices
Lunch: black bean burritos, carrot sticks
Dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce, salad

Tuesday

Breakfast: green yogurt smoothies, muffins
Lunch: navy bean soup (leftover)
Dinner: potato sausage chowder

Wednesday

Breakfast: cooked millet, apple slices
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, homemade tomato soup
Dinner: chicken stir fry with brown rice & lots of veggies

Thursday

Breakfast: green kefir smoothies, sourdough toast
Lunch: black bean chili (from freezer)
Dinner: beef enchiladas (recipe is for chicken, but I'm using beef), corn

Friday

Breakfast: baked oatmeal, apple slices
Lunch: leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner: grilled salmon, green beans, scalloped potatoes & carrots

Saturday

I'm trying a large brunch and see if I can get away with two meals, as I do a lot of cooking & baking for the week on Saturdays.

Brunch: blender batter pancakes, homemade turkey sausage or eggs, fruit
Dinner: chili, blender batter cornbread, salad

Sunday

We usually eat a late lunch/early dinner after church and graze if we're hungry later. :-)

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs, fruit
Lunch/Dinner: leftovers (I hope!)

For more menu plans, go to orgjunkie.com.

Resurrection Day Links

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:39:00 +0000

It's a bit late for this, but I have seen so many great ideas for celebrating Resurrection Day that I wanted to be sure to post some of them.

I love the Names of Jesus Garland at The Homespun Heart. Hat tip to Keeper of the Home for the link. I adapted this to use as a children's ministry craft. You can read about that here if you are interested.

Holy Experience shares instructions for making an Easter Garden. Although we should have had this ready for Palm Sunday according to the directions, we're making one today or tomorrow (haven't found plants yet) because it is such a beautiful and visual way of "remembering of the grief of old beginning, the dazzling wondering of new beginnings." If you haven't visited this blog before, be sure to stop by just for a taste of the writing!

Make your own Resurrection Eggs. I use these in our children's ministry every year. We hide them and everyone takes turns opening his/her egg, sharing the contents and reading the Scripture. It is a fun, interactive way to share the Scriptures relating to Jesus' death and resurrection.

We have also made Resurrection Rolls before. We make these on Saturday evening, but we leave them in the oven overnight, "sealing" it with tape. We "unseal" the oven in the morning and pull out the rolls after I have warmed the rolls up a bit. The first time we made them, the kids couldn't believe that the "tombs" were empty the next day! We are going to try making our own marshmallows for this instead of buying them.

The Archaeological Study Bible's Easter Story Site includes notes, images and information about several historical aspects of the Resurrection.

The Urban Homemaker shared a link in her e-newsletter to a 5-day Easter Unit Study. Again, this is a bit late, but you could still squeeze some of it in.

Hold That Thought offers printable Easter-related Scriptures and quotes to make into a Scripture card ring. They also provide instructions and a template for children to make their own Story of Easter, scrapbook style.

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday - April 6

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:00:00 +0000

We ended up having leftovers a couple of times last week (almost unheard of in this house), so I didn't make everything on my menus. I love it when that happens! Because of that, I have some duplicates.

The breakfasts look large with whole grains and smoothies or a protein, but I am using smaller servings. I am trying to get a nice variety of nutrients in first thing every day. Ideas are appreciated!

Monday

Breakfast: oatmeal, green kefir smoothie
Lunch: quesadillas, carrot sticks
Dinner: Tuna Noodle Casserole, green beans

Tuesday

Breakfast: Leftover Oatmeal Muffins, scrambled eggs, fruit
Lunch: PB & J, celery sticks

Dinner: Lentils & Rice Casserole, salad

Wednesday

Breakfast: cooked millet, green kefir smoothie
Lunch: Crockpot Spaghetti, salad
Dinner: Red Beans & Rice, green beans

Thursday

Breakfast: sourdough toast, fried eggs, fruit
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: Sloppy Joes, Baked Fries, salad

Friday

Breakfast: Fruit & Yogurt Delight with homemade granole
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, carrot sticks

Dinner: Homemade Pizza, salad

Saturday

I'm going to try a large brunch and see if I can get away with two meals, as I do a lot of cooking & baking for the week on Saturdays.

Brunch: Blender Batter Pancakes, Homemade Turkey Sausage, fruit
Dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce or homemade pizza, salad

Sunday

We usually eat a late lunch/early dinner after church and graze if we're hungry later. :-)

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs, fruit
Lunch/Dinner: Easter meal

My menu plan calendar is available here if you are interested in seeing it. I keep that current each day when meals change (as they often do). It also includes daily cooking notes. I have it set up to send me an agenda via e-mail every day, which is very helpful.

For more menu plans, go to orgjunkie.com.

Free One-Year Missions Unit Study

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:58:00 +0000

I downloaded Mission-Minded LIFE: Teaching With God's Heart for the World last fall, looked through it, was very impressed, and never used it. :-) I already had a pretty packed homeschool schedule, but I knew I would want to use this at some point. However, the book may not be available for free much longer, so I wanted to make sure I posted about it.

The curriculum is written by Ann Dunagan, a homeschooling mother of seven, author, and co-founder (with her husband, Jon) of Harvest Ministry. She blogs about being a mission-minded family at the Missions and Your Family section of the Harvest Ministry website.

Teaching With God's Heart for the World is a two-volume out-of-print book that "presents a 'whirlwind tour' of God's enduring passion for missions - all-the-way through world history and all-across-the-globe."

I cannot give this extensive curriculum full justice here. You could use this as a year-long, multi-level homeschool unit study; stick mainly with the devotionals; pick countries or sections to enhance history or geography studies; or focus specifically on the missions teachings. There are also a number of teaching tips that are valuable apart from a study of missions.

This 600-plus page book is broken up into several sections because of its size, which makes it a bit difficult to navigate. Printing out the tables of contents for each volume and marking them with the downloaded section numbers would be very helpful.

This curriculum may not be available as a free download for long, so I encourage you to take advantage of it. The download is available here. Day 1 of the Daily Lesson Plans in Volume 1 Part 3 is missing, so don't miss the link for that, which is in the description paragraph of the Volume 1 Part 3 download.

If you download this and decide to use it, I would love to hear how you are using it. I am still trying to figure that out. :-)

Menu Plan Monday - March 30

andijeane@yahoo.com (Andrea) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:54:00 +0000

I've been doing my menu plans on Google Calendar for a while, but I really miss the camaraderie of this meme, so I decided to post again. :-)

The breakfasts look large with whole grains and smoothies or a protein, but I am using smaller servings. I am trying to get a nice variety of nutrients in first thing every day. Ideas are appreciated!

Monday

Breakfast: oatmeal, green kefir smoothie
Lunch: toasted tuna sandwiches, carrot sticks
Dinner: Crockpot Chicken and Quinoa (I'm adding pre-cooked chicken in towards the end of the cooking time since that's all I have), salad

Tuesday

Breakfast: Leftover Oatmeal Muffins, scrambled eggs, fruit
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, salad
Dinner: Ground Beef & Cabbage with brown rice

Wednesday

Breakfast: cooked millet, green kefir smoothie
Lunch: Pizza Toasts (from Nourishing Traditions), salad
Dinner: Chicken Enchiladas, corn

Thursday

Breakfast: sourdough toast, fried eggs, fruit
Lunch: PB & J, carrot sticks
Dinner: Crockpot Taco Soup (4th recipe), Blender Batter Cornbread, green beans

Friday

Breakfast: Kasha, green kefir or yogurt smoothie
Lunch: Ground Beef & Cabbage Pockets (from freezer)
Dinner: Lentil & Rice Casserole (2nd recipe), salad

Saturday

I'm going to try a large brunch and see if I can get away with two meals, as I do a lot of cooking & baking for the week on Saturdays.

Brunch: Blender Batter Pancakes, Homemade Turkey Sausage, fruit
Dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce or homemade pizza, salad

Sunday

We usually eat a late lunch/early dinner after church and graze if we're hungry later. :-)

Breakfast: toast, hard-boiled eggs, fruit
Lunch/Dinner: Crockpot Chicken Chili (I am using homemade chicken broth, my own cooked beans and fresh tomatoes instead of canned)

My menu plan calendar is available here if you are interested. It includes daily cooking notes. I have it set up to send me an agenda via e-mail every day, which is very helpful.

For more menu plans, go to orgjunkie.com.